


Old-Fashioned Values

by flawedamythyst



Series: Values [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Mutual Pining, Other Avengers Being Exasperated By All The Mutual Pining, media relations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-06-26 13:43:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15664362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flawedamythyst/pseuds/flawedamythyst
Summary: Steve decides to make a grand gesture at a press conference and very nearly fucks everything up for both himself and Bucky.Huge thanks to 1electricpirate for betaing.





	Old-Fashioned Values

They didn’t do team ups with the Young Avengers very often but when they did, it always caused even more of a media circus than usual. After the defeat of the genetically modified roosters and the surprisingly well-coordinated group of Polynesian surfer terrorists (and who had even known that was a thing?) who had been controlling them, Clint was just about ready to disappear back to the Tower. Which meant, of course, that Cap decided they needed to have a full press conference with both teams present.

“He’s looking at you again,” said Kate as they all waited to troop onto the stage.

“Shut up!” hissed Clint, but he couldn’t stop his eyes darting over to where Bucky was leaning against the wall, looking just as pissed about this whole thing as Clint was. He wasn’t looking at Clint, he was scowling at whatever Steve was saying, which meant Kate was just winding Clint up. Again.

“See if I save your ass from a chicken again,” muttered Clint.

She rolled her eyes. “It’s actually impressive, how you both manage to look away when the other looks over. I’d think it was some kinda psychic connection, if Stark and Cap didn’t do the exact same thing.”

Clint snorted. “Now I know you’re joking. There’s no way me and Bucky are anything like those two and their tortured pining.”

It would have to be a two-way street for that, after all, and Bucky had never shown any signs that he thought of Clint as anything other than a friend he could hang out with in the range and chat shit to when Steve got too annoying. Well, except for that sexy smirk he’d started giving Clint whenever he made a particular good shot, or the number of times Clint had caught him checking his ass out, or how much he flirted with Clint compared to, say, anyone else on the team. Or the way he’d let his eyes glide over Clint’s body the last time they’d had to dress up posh for a gala, right before he’d wolf-whistled and asked for a dance.

That was just a friends thing, right? Normal guys danced with their friends, didn’t they? Well, normal guys from the forties who’d been brainwashed and cryogenically frozen by neo-Nazis.

Okay, maybe Kate wasn’t entirely wrong, and there was a tiny, miniscule, slimmer-than-a-hipster’s-skinny-jeans chance that Bucky didn’t just see Clint as a friend.

Kate let out a long sigh. “Oh man, such denial.”

Pepper indicated it was time to start processing in before Clint had time to come up with an answer to that, which was a relief.

He found a place to stand towards the back of the stage, leaving Bucky and Tony to flank Steve at the podium, while America stood next to them. It put Clint in a good position to check out Bucky’s ass in his combat pants without being obvious, so at least he had something to look at while Steve gave a rundown of the incident.

Billy and Teddy were holding hands, he noticed. Billy had nearly been eaten by a giant, fire-breathing rooster, so he guessed there was an element of reassurance going on there, but given the increasing amount of anti-gay rhetoric flying around in the press over the last couple of years, he thought maybe they were trying to make a point as well.

Either way, all he could think about was how nice it would be to have Bucky standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him right now, their fingers tangled together.

Maybe Kate was right. Maybe he should take a chance and sound out if Bucky did want more than just friendship. He really didn’t want to end up like Tony and Steve after all, dancing around each other with their hearts in their eyes and never actually making a move. Apart from anything else, he thought Natasha might kill him if she got stuck on a team with two couples doing that.

“I’ve already answered that question,” snapped Steve with the fierce tone that meant he was seconds away from punching someone’s lights out. Clint blinked and made himself actually pay attention to the press conference. “I don’t have any problem working with any of the Young Avengers.”

The journalist he was talking to was a lot braver than Clint, because rather than back down in the face of that particular glare from Cap, he persisted. “Surely it hasn’t been easy for you to adjust to the, ah, untraditional elements within the team? After all, you were brought up in a time when good, old-fashioned American values held true.”

Steve’s glare doubled in power. “I’m afraid I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. There are plenty of ‘untraditional elements’ within the Avengers as well. You know we have a guy who turns into a giant green rage monster, right?”

Tony cleared his throat, “If I might, Steve, I think what he’s trying to say is that you must be homophobic just because you’re old. Because his ridiculous excuse for a publication are, apparently, immune to reality. Seriously, Pepper, why did we even let them in?”

Teddy shifted his weight and Clint could see his grip on Billy’s hand tighten. Great, any minute now they were going to have to deal with a half-Skrull, half-Kree alien going off the deep end at a bunch of reporters. Not that it wasn’t deserved, but that didn’t make the PR fall-out any more fun to deal with.

Steve straightened up. “Are you sure, Tony? I can’t believe anyone would actually be asking that,” he said. “Because as I remember it, good old-fashioned American values included liberty and justice _for all_ and, as far as I’m concerned, the fact that both have now been spread to a far wider group of people is a good thing.”

“But, doesn’t it make you feel uncomfortable?” the guy pushed and wow, seriously? Did he have a deathwish or something?

“No,” growled Steve. “The opposite, in fact.” He looked to Tony on one side of him, and then Bucky on the other, and Clint knew the exact moment he decided to do something dramatic that would upset their PR people, because he’d seen that particular clench of Steve’s jaw before and what came next was never anything good.

“It makes me feel pleased that the queer community don’t need to hide who they are like they did back when I was being brought up with those good, old-fashioned values you seem so set on,” he said. “Makes me feel ecstatic that doing something like this won’t get anyone arrested or beaten up,” he added, then grabbed Bucky around the shoulders and pulled him in for a swift, hard kiss.

Clint’s heart felt like it had dropped into his stomach. Oh, fuck. He had been right after all, Bucky wasn’t interested in him, not if he and Steve had been hiding some epic love story for the last seventy years.

When Steve pulled away from Bucky, he turned to glare at the reporter. “Does that answer your question, or do you need me to elaborate?”

Clint didn’t take his eyes off Bucky to see how the reporter took that. From behind, he couldn’t see the look on Bucky’s face, but he did watch the way he set his shoulders and clenched his fists, as if preparing to take on the world if Steve needed him too.

Aw, heart, no. Clint wasn’t just pining for someone who wasn’t into him, he was pining for someone who was in a relationship with the peak of human perfection.

He twitched, wanting more than anything to just quietly creep away and go hide himself in an air vent somewhere, but the press were all watching and if he left now, there would be stories about how Hawkeye couldn’t cope with his captain’s homosexual relationship.

The press conference didn’t last long after that. Steve waved off or ignored any questions about his sexuality or relationships, then turned the floor over to America and Kate, who the press couldn’t seem to find any interest in talking to after Steve’s actions. Pepper brought the conference to a close before things got really out of hand and the Avengers and Young Avengers all bolted for the back door.

“What the fuck was that, punk?” asked Bucky as soon as they were out the back.

Apparently he hadn’t been as up for being outed as Steve was. Clint wasn’t interested in listening to the two of them have a marital, so he faded towards the nearest door and escaped without hearing Steve’s reply. As he left, he caught sight of Tony doing exactly the same thing from the other door.

Yeah, okay, at least he wasn’t the only guy who had just watched his crush make out with some other guy, and Tony had been crushing on Steve far longer than Clint had on Bucky, mostly because he’d known him longer. For a brief moment, he considered going after Tony so they could commiserate, but that just sounded depressing as hell. He’d much rather go hide in his room, turn out all the lights and curl up under his blankets with bad country music playing. That was the traditional way to deal with a broken heart, right?

****

Bucky couldn't even really be mad at Steve, because he’d glanced at Bucky with the unmistakable look of ‘I’m about to do something stupid, want to join me?’ and Bucky had given him the nod.

He was pretty mad at himself though, because it had been ninety years since he’d met the asshole, why the hell hadn't he learnt to get details before agreeing to shit? He’d thought Steve was just going to out them the traditional way, with words, and Bucky was more than up for that because he wasn't entirely sure why he’d been hiding. Being kissed was a completely different matter though. That said a whole lot more than ‘hey, guess what, assholes, both us ‘old-fashioned values’ guys like dick’. That said there was a specific dick that Bucky was interested in and, okay, so there was, but it sure as fuck didn’t belong to Steve.

“What the fuck was that, punk?” he asked the moment the doors were shut.

Steve’s jaw was clenched with stubbornness. “I’m sick of people assuming things about us just because of their stupid notions of what life was like in the thirties.”

“Yeah, I get that,” said Bucky. “Plenty of ways to stop that without shoving your tongue down my throat.”

Steve had the grace to look at least a little shame-faced at that. “I guess that was a little overly dramatic.”

“A little?” asked Bucky and Steve gave the same shrug he’d been using since he was a kid as a non-apology for going too far. Bucky just sighed.

“Uh, Captain?” asked a voice and Bucky glanced around to see that Teddy and Billy had come over, still holding hands. “Did you– Is it true? That you’re, um...”

They looked so hopeful. God damn, Steve had done the right thing, just in the wrong way. As usual.

“Yeah, we're both bisexual,” said Bucky, tiredly.

Their faces lit up. “Oh, and you’re together?”

“No,” said Bucky, probably more abruptly than he needed to.

Steve shot him a look. “We’ve only ever been friends,” he said. “I guess it was just something else we had in common to bond over when we were young.”

Bucky snorted because, okay, they’d never been together, but that didn't mean there hadn’t been a few times during the war when things had been lonely and kinda bleak and it was a comfort to have a buddy to ‘bond’ with. That hadn't been the first time they’d kissed, not by a long shot.

“Well, I hope you’re prepared to have everyone think you’re together now, after that stunt,” said Pepper. “And not just everyone out there,” she added, nodding towards the conference room, “but in here as well.” Her eyes darted around the room before she looked back at them. “Or people who were in here a minute ago, anyway.”

Bucky glanced around to see that most of the two teams were still there, chatting and trying to pretend they weren’t watching him and Steve. It took him longer than it should have to notice the two obvious absences.

“Oh shit,” he realised. Tony and Clint. Tony, who had been making eyes at Steve since, well, since Bucky was still in Hydra’s cryotube if what the others said was true, and Clint, who had definitely flirted back at Bucky a few times and who Bucky’d been really hoping he’d have a chance with. The guy had danced with him after all, that had to mean something, right?

It didn’t matter what it meant if Clint thought Bucky was with Steve, though. Bucky was going to lose his chance at what he really wanted just because Steve was a shit who’d never learnt to take a deep breath and count to ten before doing something insane.

Although, if Clint had ducked out of the usual post-press-conference drinks party in order to avoid Bucky just because he thought he was with someone else, that definitely said he was interested, right? If he didn’t have feelings for Bucky, he’d still be here, making bad jokes about geriatric lovers or something.

Bucky had to find him. He had to make it clear that he was completely single and only interested in blonds who wore too much purple and spent too much time at the range and laughed at all Bucky’s shitty jokes. Steve only ever laughed at about half of them, and his laugh didn’t make his eyes glow and his face light up in a way that sent warm tendrils creeping around Bucky’s heart.

“Tony’s not homophobic, is he?” asked Steve, and Bucky completely lost his train of thought in favour of turning to stare at Steve.

“Please tell me you’re not that fucking dense,” he said.

Steve’s frown deepened. “Why else would he disappear?”

“Tony’s not homophobic,” said Pepper. “The opposite, in fact. If you google it, you can probably still find some of the shitty things the tabloids said about him when he first came out as bi.”

She was giving Steve a pointed look, but it just seemed to be bouncing off.

“He’s bisexual as well?” asked Steve. He blinked a couple of times, then he gave a little shake of his head. “I guess he just had an idea he needed to get to the workshop for or something, then.”

Bucky met Pepper’s eyes. She looked as if she was contemplating smacking Steve around the back of the head, which Bucky would have supported, but instead she just gave up. “Okay, you know what? I am not paid enough to deal with this much denial. I already have one blinkered idiot to try and bash some sense into, I’m not taking on another one.”

Steve turned his frown on her. “What do you–?”

She threw her hands up and glared at Bucky. “All yours,” she said, and disappeared before Steve could say anything else.

Steve looked at Bucky, who sighed and patted his shoulder. “Listen, Stevie. I’m gonna go find Clint, because it’s really important to me that he knows I’m not banging my best friend. I suggest that, maybe, you might want to go find Tony and tell him the same thing. Maybe also mention that there’s someone entirely different you want to bang.”

He didn’t bother waiting for a response, because he had an archer to hunt down and… Well, he didn’t know that he was going to be much good at seducing, but maybe if he just tried being honest, that might get him somewhere. Anywhere.

God, please let this end with him at least getting to kiss Clint.

****

Steve watched Bucky take off for the elevator, still trying to work out exactly what he and Pepper had been talking about.

His brain wasn’t really firing on all cylinders though, not when most of it was taken up with processing the information that Tony was into guys. It was with difficulty that he pushed that aside to be dealt with later. A lot later, because there were entirely too many people around right now.

He turned back to Billy and Teddy but they had melted away and over to a gaggle of other Young Avengers, so instead he looked around for his own team. Sam and Natasha were nearby, close enough to have overheard, and for some reason they were both staring at him.

“Hey, should we get everyone up to the main lounge for a few drinks?” he asked them, then frowned around at the Young Avengers. “Soft drinks, I’m guessing none of them are old enough for more.”

“Oh no,” said Sam. “No. This isn’t–” He glanced at Natasha as if looking for strength. “Come on, there must be some way to get through to him.”

Natasha took a very deep breath and rolled her eyes to the ceiling, then stepped forward and took Steve’s face in her hands, pressing tightly enough to squeeze his jaw.

“Steve,” she said, firmly. “This is very important. Tony has gone to hide in his workshop because he thinks you and Bucky are a couple. You need to go and tell him that you’re not.”

“Why would that matter–?” started Steve, but she squeezed his face tighter until he stopped talking.

“Go and talk to Tony before we all, collectively, lose our patience and take you both out,” she said. “Four years is too long to have to watch this level of pining.”

Steve felt himself freeze. Pining? Oh god. He’d tried so hard to keep it quiet, how did they know?

Natasha sighed so loudly it was more like a groan. “Yes, of course we all know, everyone knows. Everyone, that is, except Tony. Who now thinks you’re in a relationship with Bucky, so he went to lock himself in his workshop. Why do you think he did that?”

Steve took a deep breath. Okay, so everyone apparently knew his deepest secret, that was fine. He pushed that to one side and concentrated on what Natasha was saying, because he had a feeling she’d stab him if he didn’t.

“He’s not a homophobe,” he said, because now he’d had a chance to think about it, he didn’t need Pepper to tell him that.

“No,” she agreed.

He took a moment to run it through. What the hell other reason would make Tony take off like that?

“Come on, Cap, you’re meant to be the greatest tactical genius of our time,” said Natasha. “You can do this.”

There was really only one thing Steve could think of, but it seemed really unlikely. Natasha was staring right into his eyes without blinking, clearly willing him to say something, so he gave it a try.

“He’s got a thing for Bucky?”

Natasha actually did groan then, letting go of his face and turning away towards Sam. “I can’t. I just can’t.”

Okay, not that then. Good. It was pretty clear that Bucky was set on Clint, and Steve didn’t want to see Tony get hurt.

“Steve, come on,” said Sam. “If it’s not Bucky he’s locked himself away to mourn losing his chance with, then it’s…”

Steve didn’t want to say it, because it seemed even more outlandish than Tony having a thing for Bucky, but it was all he could come up with. “Me?”

Sam grinned and clapped his hands. “Atta boy. Knew you’d get there.”

Steve shook his head. “No, you’re wrong. Tony’s had plenty of chances to say or do something, and he’s not exactly shy. He’d have spoken up long before now.”

“You would think that,” agreed Natasha, “but apparently he’s just as shit at reading the signs as you are, and doubly as scared of losing your friendship.”

“Seriously, man,” said Sam. “Please, for the love of god. Go tell the guy how you feel. I swear I wouldn’t tell you to do that if I wasn’t sure it would end well for you.”

Steve glanced over at the elevator, hesitating. Was it really that simple?

Natasha took a threatening step forward. “Steve, I swear, I am this close to stabbing you.”

“Fine,” said Steve. “Okay, fine. I’ll talk to him.” He didn’t have to jump straight in with his feelings, after all. He could sound Tony out first, check that Sam and Natasha were right.

“If you come back up here without talking to him properly, Natasha won’t be the only one getting kinda stabby,” said Sam.

Steve rolled his eyes at him, then forced his feet to head over to the the elevator. He’d pop down, tell Tony how things really were between him and Bucky, and see what kind of reaction he got. If those two were right, he’d take a leap– otherwise it was much better just to keep his mouth shut. He didn’t want to risk the delicate balance of the team, after all.

****

Clint’s door was shut and locked when Bucky got to his floor. He thumped on it a couple of times, without luck, then sighed.

“JARVIS, he is in there, right?”

“Agent Barton has invoked the Privacy Protocol,” said JARVIS.

Right, of course he had. That meant that JARVIS couldn’t tell Bucky a single, solitary thing about his location or state of mind, and couldn’t pass on a message either. Bucky eyed the door again. There were really only three places Clint went to mope, so... 

“Hey, JARVIS, if I wanted to go up to the roof…?”

“The elevator would take you straight there,” said JARVIS.

Okay, so Clint wasn’t on the roof. The Privacy Protocol meant that whatever room or area you were in went into lockdown for everyone else. 

“The range?” asked Bucky.

“The range is available for use,” said JARVIS.

Which meant Clint was definitely in his room. Bucky thumped on the door again, taking advantage of having a metal fist that didn’t get sore knuckles from repeated hits. “CLINT! LET ME IN!” he called, keeping up the banging.

This was only going to work as long as Clint hadn’t taken his hearing aids out, of course. Unless Bucky could hit hard enough for the small amount of hearing Clint had left to pick it up, but that would probably end up breaking the door.

Well, he guessed that was always a possibility, but it would probably piss off a few too many people.

“CLINT!” he called again. “Hey JARVIS, what are the chances you’ll agree to let off a bogus Avengers alert so he’ll come out?” An alert was the only thing that overrode the Privacy Protocol.

“Approximately 0.0003%,” said JARVIS.

Okay, so knocking the door down was a better plan. “CLINT!! OPEN UP!” he shouted again. “I NEED TO TELL YOU SOMETHING IMPORTANT!”

At least, he hoped Clint thought it was important. It seemed pretty important to Bucky.

He’d got into a rhythm of banging on the door, so when it was suddenly pulled open and there was nothing for his fist to pound on anymore, Bucky nearly fell forwards into Clint.

“Seriously?! What the fuck, Barnes?”

Bucky straightened himself and tried out a grin. “Hey, Clint. I wanted to talk.”

Clint rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I got that. I think every fucker in a five mile radius got that.” He glanced at his door and frowned. “My poor door definitely did.”

Bucky glanced at it and realised there was now a series of fist-shaped dents in it. Whoops.

“Can I come in?”

“So you can trash the rest of my room?” asked Clint. He crossed his arms and leant against the doorframe. “I think we can just talk here. And be quick, I was going to bed.”

From his messed up hair, it looked like he’d already been to bed, but he was still fully clothed. Bucky had a mental image of Clint throwing himself onto the bed without getting changed, and tried not to wince.

“I wanted you to know that Steve and I aren’t together,” said Bucky.

Clint went very still. “Okay,” he said slowly. “Because you looked pretty together with his tongue down your throat.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Steve’s a dramatic little punk, you know that.”

“I don’t know that I’d call Steve a ‘little’ anything, but I guess I see your point,” said Clint. He looked more relaxed now, but there was still a wary look around his eyes. “Not sure why you felt I needed to know so urgently that you bashed in my door, though.”

Bucky hesitated. Shit, he hadn’t got this wrong, had he? He traced his eyes over Clint, taking in the tension behind his seemingly relaxed stance. No, this was definitely a thing. He just needed to try and get the words right.

“It was more that I needed you to know,” he said, carefully. “Because my plan for this evening was to have a couple of drinks with you, then see if you wanted to go up to the roof, because looking out at the city at night with you is one of my favourite things.”

Clint swallowed and his eyes darted down the corridor and then back to Bucky’s face. “We could still do that even if you’re with Steve.”

Bucky shook his head. “Nah. See, every time we go up there, I think ‘this’ll be the time I’m brave enough to kiss him’. It doesn't really work the same if you think I want to be kissing someone else.”

Clint was staring at him as if he had never seen a guy making a play for him before. Well, he probably hadn’t seen a guy who was this bad at it before. Fuck, what was Bucky doing? He had no idea how you chatted someone up these days.

“You could try starting out by kissing me,” said Clint, very carefully. “That way there wouldn't be any confusion.”

Bucky could definitely do that. Especially if he had an invite and everything. 

Kissing Clint was even better than he’d always hoped it would be. Clint ran a hand up into his hair, holding Bucky’s head in place as he let him take everything he’d been wanting from his mouth. Bucky took hold of his waist and pushed him back against the doorframe, moving in as close as he dared, and then a couple of inches closer, because Clint wasn’t pushing him away or tensing up. The opposite, in fact: the longer they kissed, the more Clint relaxed into him, pulling Bucky closer as if he knew just how ridiculous it was that there had ever been any distance between them.

“Fuck,” muttered Clint between kisses, pressing his hips against Bucky’s and running a hand down his back. “Can we skip the sitting on the roof with a beer in favour of heading straight to bed?”

“Fuck yeah, we can definitely do that,” said Bucky. “Best idea I’ve heard all day.”

“Better than Tony’s idea of making giant drumsticks out of those roosters?” asked Clint with one of his little grins that always made Bucky want to kiss him so that he could feel it pressed against his mouth.

He could do that now, could kiss Clint until the grin had fallen away and his breath was coming in pants.

“Yeah,” said Bucky, pulling away to inspect his work. Clint’s eyes were bright with lust, staring at Bucky as if he were the only thing in the world. “No way we’d have found enough barbecue sauce for drumsticks that size.”

“My bedroom is definitely the best idea then, because I’ve got plenty of sauce,” said Clint, and waggled his eyebrows.

Bucky groaned and dropped his head to Clint’s shoulder. “What the hell am I getting myself into?”

“My bed, hopefully,” said Clint, and he was doing his best to sound confident, but Bucky could hear the thin note of uncertainty, as if he didn’t know just how much of a sure thing Bucky was.

Bucky lifted his head and kissed him again, quick and affectionate. “Yeah, definitely,” he agreed. “Even if the jokes just keep getting worse.”

“That’s good,” said Clint, “because they almost certainly will.” He hooked his fingers into Bucky’s belt loops and gave them a tug, stepping backwards into his room. “JARVIS, engage Privacy Protocol.”

“Privacy Protocol engaged,” said JARVIS as Bucky followed Clint, letting the door shut behind him.

****

Tony was taking his frustration out with a hammer on a random bit of metal that had been the first thing he’d seen when he'd stormed into the workshop. He was becoming increasingly aware that it was the new back plate for the suit that JARVIS had been fabricating while he was stuck in the press conference, and that he’d made it completely unusable, but, fuck it. JARVIS could make a new one. Tony really needed something to hit right now.

The door opened and familiar footsteps came in but Tony didn’t look up. He didn't think he’d be able to stop himself from throwing the hammer at Steve.

“Tony? Are you okay?” asked Steve, carefully.

“Nope,” said Tony and slammed the hammer down hard enough to crack the finish on the metal plate.

“Oh,” said Steve. There was a shuffle of feet and a deep breath, then he announced, “Sam and Natasha think you need to know that Bucky and I are just friends.”

Tony’s hand clenched on the hammer and he made himself drop it because if he kept holding it, he was definitely going to end up throwing it.

He spun around to glare at Steve instead. “I know that. Of course I fucking know that! Do you really think one fucking kiss is going to make me forget everything I know about you two? You're both living in my goddamn Tower!”

Steve looked taken aback by the vehemence of his reaction which made Tony itch for the hammer again. He clenched his hands into fists to stop himself picking it back up.

“Okay,” said Steve, carefully. “So why are you hiding down here breaking things?”

“Because, you fucking idiot, you _kissed Bucky_ ,” hissed Tony.

Steve blinked. “You just–"

“Bucky! You kissed Bucky!”continued Tony. “You turned and fucking looked at me, and then you kissed him! Four fucking years of dancing around this, waiting for you to make a move, and when you needed another bi guy to showboat with to piss off reporters, you kissed fucking Bucky!”

Steve looked completely thrown. “Waiting for me to make a move?” he repeated.

“Obviously,” said Tony, and then actually took in the lost look on Steve’s face. “Oh god,” he said, “please tell me you knew that. I could not have flirted any harder.” Steve continued to look blown away by the idea. Tony took a very deep breath and did not think about the hammer. “Last week before the gala I told you I wanted to lick you all over.”

“That’s just the kind of thing you say,” said Steve, weakly.

“Yeah,” agreed Tony. “The kind of thing I say _to you_ , because I’m waiting for you to make a move.” It was clear Steve had no idea what he was talking about. “Fuck. Four years and you really don’t have a clue?”

“Why the hell didn’t you ever actually _do_ anything?” asked Steve, and he was starting to look pissed now as well. Hopefully at himself, because there was no way Tony was taking the blame for this train wreck.

“Because four years ago you’d just woken up after seventy years and you were depressed and lost and clearly not in a good place for anything,” said Tony with more patience than he felt. “So I was waiting for you to be ready. And then SHIELD went down, and there was all the stuff with finding Bucky and sorting out his mental health, I figured you were waiting for that to be settled.” Steve still looked like this was coming out of nowhere. Tony sighed. “Hey JARVIS, tell Steve about the Romeo Protocol.”

“The Romeo Protocol is that if Mr Stark and you are alone in a room for a significant length of time, I am to hold all non-emergency calls and invoke partial Privacy Protocols,” said JARVIS.

Steve frowned. “Romeo?”

“The balcony scene,” explained Tony. “Romeo’s trying to chat Juliet up but the nurse keeps interrupting. I figured it would be best to avoid that. Hey, JARVIS, tell him about the subroutine on the Privacy Protocols.”

“If Mr Stark is the one to invoke Privacy,” recited JARVIS, “it does not apply to Captain Rogers.”

Steve stared at Tony. “You never lock me out?”

Tony shook his head. “I told you. I’ve been waiting. I wasn't going to miss it.” 

Steve was staring at him as if he had no idea what was going on. All the anger drained out of Tony and he leaned back against his work bench. “I’ve been operating under false assumptions this whole time,” he realised.

Steve shook his head. “Not quite. It’s just that not everyone can skip three steps ahead like you do. It never occurred to me that you were waiting for a future I’d barely let myself contemplate.”

Well, that didn't sound great for Tony’s chances of getting to that future any time soon. This day just kept getting worse.

He didn't want to pressure Steve though. He wasn’t going to be that asshole. Instead, he said, “I can keep waiting. As long as you need but, seriously, don’t go kissing other guys when I'm right there.”

“I think I can promise that,” said Steve, taking a step closer to Tony. “JARVIS, engage the Romeo Protocol.”

“The Romeo Protocol has been engaged for several minutes already,” said JARVIS, but neither of them were listening to him.

Steve moved closer to Tony with a resolute look, not taking his eyes off Tony’s. Tony tried not to hold his breath or tense up, because if this was going where he thought it was…

Steve kissed him with the kind of single-minded focus that he usually brought to taking down Hydra or beating Bucky at Mario Kart. Tony grabbed for his biceps and just held on for a moment as the realisation that this was actually, finally happening sunk in, then straightened up from the workbench so that he could give as good as he was getting, kissing Steve with all the pent-up emotion of four years of waiting.

It was several minutes before either of them were able to speak. Steve pulled away and rested his forehead against Tony’s, arms encircling him.

“Next time you’re waiting for a future that seems blindingly obvious to you, maybe drop me a couple of hints?” he said. “I’m not a genius futurist, you know.”

“Okay,” said Tony, because he’d pretty much agree to anything right now. He kissed Steve again, then said, by way of forewarning, “This is either going to end with us getting married, or in a break-up so violent it splinters the team and levels a couple of city blocks.”

Steve stared at him. “Those are the only two options?”

“Pretty much,” said Tony, because he wasn't willing to even think about the possibility of one of them dying, let alone bring it up right now.

“Huh,” said Steve. “I guess I better start thinking about buying a ring then,” he said, and kissed Tony again, pushing him back against the workbench.

Okay, Tony could work with that.


End file.
